We've forgotten how to live in the moment.

What are people doing with these recordings anyway. Does anyone actually go back and watch hours of footage they've poorly recorded on their device?

Essentially, they post it to their instagram stories to prove they were there.

I can walk and chew gum. It is totally possible to watch AND record something at the same time.

Phones over everything. I am a teacher and coach and see it everyday.

It's gotten to be too much, but credit Apple for overcoming free-will. Put down the phone and live life.

Yes, you have to present instagram evidence to claim your $350 gift certificate for attendance.

Phil Knight spotting in the Lebron Pic

actually this kind of behavior isn't new, its old.

Why do people want an autograph (to prove they actually met the person).

It is all about trying to impress others/ create social standing. It is what people with low self esteem do. Same reason people start smoking...think about, why would someone start smoking?

- for an expensive habit that can kill you

- because they want yellow teeth and clothes that smell like donk

- because the idea of being on oxygen as they age is too cute to pass up

no, no and no

it is too look cool

and why do you need to look cool

because you are not cool

hence,

smoking = clear sign of low self esteem.

Let’s leave nicotine out of this. High quality substance, reasonable vice.

The only people watching "hours of footage" are professional videographers. Everyone else takes between 1 and 10 short videos of fun moments in the game, then deletes the crappy ones and saves a couple to their phone and posts them on insta. Then later when they're hanging out with a friend, they might go "I got some pretty decent seats at the Laker game, check out this clip I got of Lebron bricking a fadeaway 2." And then their friend watches the 4-second video.

Before the ubiquity of cell phones, people would have someone take a picture of their family in front of the Taj Mahal or whatever. Then they would come home, get the film developed, and show the picture to their friends. And before the ubiquity of cameras, people would come back from their safari or whatever and tell their friends all about it, and they'd probably be thinking "My friends are gonna flip when they hear about this!" while they're out there. None of these people are 100% living in the moment; they're also thinking about how to share that moment with loved ones later.

Experiencing something from someone else's point of view is one way people connect with each other.

Taking a video at a basketball game is not a moral failing.

I coached for 30 years. There were no cell phones. Do you allow them at practice?

This is a good point, but I think it misses something. There's a difference between thinking about how you're going to tell a friend about an event later--or even having someone take a picture for you--and keeping your phone out whenever you see something interesting. Look at that pic from the Lakers game again. It almost doesn't even seem real. Nearly everyone has their phone out. Not a few people. Everyone. The equivalent would be snapping 500+ pictures a day while on vacation (which some people probably did do).

Phones are a difference in kind, not degree. All of a sudden, the vast majority of American society lives their lives mediated through screens instead of face-to-face. My own life has been a struggle of slowly breaking free from the pull of screens to actually live with those around me. One way to start is to not compulsively record everything semi-interesting that happens.

people are still living in the moment; they now just want instant (or close to it) validation from others the moment they lived actually happened.

That’s the weirdest thing. Probably most of them do not. It’s just habit at this point I guess. My generation would pull out camcorders and take home movies of our kids and then never watch them… but at least we didn’t do that all the time?

And this need and addiction to instant validation makes them pick up their phone every few seconds to check for likes... hence they are NOT living in the moment.

I was at UVA for XC Nationals and seeing the finish line was difficult because everyone had their arms up in the air holding their phones, even my athletes. It was so stupid.

The best is people who record fireworks at the fourth of july. Like you really going to go back and watch that in a couple months?

What's the point of experiencing something cool if I can't use it to me look more interesting on social media?

Here's a good piece on this:

freyaindia.co.uk

You Don't Need To Document Everything

Freya India

Stop selling your life off so cheaply to strangers

Open link